More Than Just A Sum of All These Broken Parts

Trees (Evan)

You pulled up the video, tapping your finger against the table nervously. You felt your boyfriend's eyes on you and panicked a little, hitting the space bar and pausing the video at 0:00 right before it started playing. Inhaling quietly, you scratched the back of your head and offered the earbuds to the brown-haired boy sitting next to you on your bed. "Um, this song, it means a lot to me. I want you to hear it. Like, eyes closed, paying attention to nothing other than Tyler's words. Is that okay?" you fiddled with the cords to the earbuds, eyes glued to the floor. Evan accepted them and inserted each into his ears, glanced in your direction and nodded with a small smile, shifting backwards onto the soft blanket that covered where you slept.

"Uh, is it okay if I...?" he gestured behind him and you jumped to the conclusion that he meant 'lay down' so you nodded vigorously and his back hit the somewhat flat surface with a quiet, soft ploomfp. Evan's pretty eyes closed and you hit the space bar again, increasing the volume a little.

You knew it was only the instrumental part so far, because you had pulled up a lyric video and the opening lyrics had been there for an awfully long time, but the expression on his face was intrigued, and when the lyrics began - I know, where you stand, silent in the trees - his mouth opened a little and his face fell blank.

Knowing how pretty the lyrics were across the screen, you had already seen the video so you wouldn't be distracted by the words. You wanted to gauge Evan's reaction. Ever since you'd found out that he had fallen, this song had come to mind every time you thought of your boyfriend, imagining if you had been there, if you could have called for help sooner, if you could have been there to let him know he wasn't alone.

Eventually you resigned to reading the lyrics onscreen and, y'know, not being a creep.

It was a short song, only maybe four minutes, but it held so much meaning carried by both the words and the sounds that it was explosive and cathartic to hear for your first time.

When the video ended, Evan didn't move. You looked down at him after a minute.

He was crying, crying hard, crying so much that his face and collar and top of his shirt soaked and clung to his skin, crying so that when he whispered his voice was raw and cracked. Real, hard tears, ones that looked like they hurt, reddened his cheeks. Realization and relief swirled together and flooded his expressions.

Evan opened his eyes. He sat up and took out the earbuds. You inched closer, wrapping your arms around his upper torso, and he rested his chin on your shoulder, the movements fitting like puzzle pieces. The weird, curvy edges coming together to form a picture on top.

"Thank you," Evan mumbled, a tiny smile etching its way across half his face, "thank you so much," when the two of you let go, he held your face and kissed your nose. "I love you."

"Pleasure," you whispered, beaming. "I love you, too." You pecked his lips briefly, mood sobering. "Do you think you would have let go if you had found twenty øne piløts sooner?"

Your boyfriend froze - clearly this was not a question or topic that he'd thought you'd bring up. You opened your mouth to apologize, backing out of the half-embrace, but his arm was in the way. He spoke first.

"I... no, I don't think so," he said quietly. "Thank you."

"Love you." You smiled again. "Pleasure," you added.

"Please kiss me."

"Pleasure."

---

Sorry it's short

Word count: 627

8/9/2017

guys i stayed up till seven am and i'm not tired my sleep schedule is FUCKED ahahahaha

hylian out, hoped y'all enjoyed this